O Intermitente
(So long, farewell, auf weidersehen, good-bye)

segunda-feira, agosto 04, 2003

Constituição Europeia

William Niskanen do Cato Institute aconselha os europeus a olharem para o exemplo da Constituição Americana.

"Europeans will soon consider a proposed constitution for the EU that is very different from the US Constitution. The US is the oldest and largest surviving constitutional republic -- a nation that has experienced a larger increase in area, population, and income; absorbing people of more diverse racial, ethnic and language backgrounds than any other contemporary nation. So Europeans are well advised to understand and consider those characteristics of the US Constitution that provided the political and legal framework for the American success story.

Several characteristics of the US Constitution have contributed to its relative success and survival as a body of foundation law. The preamble, for example, describes the objectives of the Constitution in only 52 words of forceful, declaratory and quite general prose, which, by itself, provides no authority for any specific political decision.

The main text, in only seven articles, describes the powers authorized to the several branches of government and the powers denied to the federal government or the states as few, brief, and well defined. All residual powers are reserved to the states.

And the Bill of Rights, with one exception, is a list of the rights of individuals against the state, not a list of claims by individuals on services to be provided by the state; the one exception is the right to a trial by jury. All residual rights are reserved to the people."


"Even those who favor the major provisions of the proposed constitution should be careful to ensure that the constitution limits the authority of the EU to define its own powers, because all governments seek broader powers than first authorized.

Over time, an imperfect Europe of national states (...) may be a better protection of liberty than approving the proposed constitution in the hope for a more perfect EU"
posted by Miguel Noronha 4:11 da tarde